If spending by all levels of government is considered, total highway expenditures
exceeded $100 billion in 1997 for the first time. In Spring 1999, FHWA will
publish its annual Highway Funding Bulletin which will provide additional
highway finance data, including estimates of capital spending for the TEA-21
years of 1998 (partial TEA-21 year) and 1999.

The Office of Highway Information
Management (currently Office of Highway Policy Information) held
its annual Highway Information Seminar on November 17-19, 1998, at the Holiday
Inn--Capitol in Washington, D.C. The seminar, which was deemed highly successful,
attracted 74 representatives from State DOTs, revenue departments, and motor
vehicle administration, and FHWA field offices. This 3-day course, targeted
to State and FHWA field personnel who are involved in collecting, analyzing,
preparing, and submitting highway statistical data, was divided into two
phases--lectures and workshops.

It provided an excellent opportunity
for FHWA and State personnel to exchange information, discuss individual
problem areas, and recommend solutions. The States provided FHWA valuable
feedback on field office issues. The agenda included discussions on the
various uses of data for policy purposes, i.e., reporting to Congress, apportioning
funds, and performance measurement.

Keynote speakers included Frank
Moretti of the Road Information Program (TRIP), and David Clawson, from
the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO). Mr. Moretti spoke on the importance of data for decisionmaking
as viewed by national organizations while Mr. Clawson addressed the various
uses of highway statistics by national organizations. Mike Weiss, Special
Assistant to the FHWA Executive Director, added valuable insight on the
information programs and their needs and use by Congress.

On December 10-11, 1998, in cooperation
with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO) and the Federation of Tax Administrators, the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) met with State representatives and others
to begin a cooperative review of its current motor-fuel data reporting structure
and related issues. This review is necessary because the Transportation
Efficiency Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) makes greater use of highway
information, including State-reported motor fuel consumption and related
Highway Trust Fund contributions in apportioning Federal-aid funds to the
States. The group, chaired by Nicholas Graf, FHWA North Carolina Division
Administrator, includes representatives from 10 States, including Revenue
and Transportation Departments, FHWA field and Headquarters staff, and others.

The group heard from Dr. Walter
L. Sutton, Jr., FHWA Associate Administrator for Policy, and Dan Corbett,
of the Senate Environment and Public Works staff. In its work sessions,
the group identified a number of key issues and appointed four subcommittees
to develop specific proposals to help improve the quality of the State-reported
motor-fuel data. These areas included a survey of State reporting capabilities,
State terminology and definitions, State reporting under the International
Fuel Tax Agreements (IFTA), and the use of motor-fuel data to attribute
Federal Highway Trust Fund receipts to the States. A second meeting of this
group is contemplated in 1999.

In 1957, the Interstate System
consisted of over 3,000 miles and carried nearly 6,000 daily vehicles per
mile (See Figure 2). By 1967, the System increased to almost 26,000
miles and carried nearly 12,000 daily vehicles per mile. Twenty years later,
the System represented over 38,000 miles and daily traffic averaged over
19,000 vehicles per mile; by 1997, the System extended over 46,000 miles
with daily traffic averaging over 35,000 vehicles per mile. The Interstate
System accounts for about 1 percent of the Nation's public road mileage
and carries about 23 percent of the travel.

During 1986 to 1996, traffic volumes
on 23 major intercity Interstate System routes of 500 miles or longer increased
an average of 46 percent (see Table 1 for data by route number).
During this same period, traffic on other intercity Interstate System routes
increased 34 percent and on beltways and spurs, by 25 percent. Overall,
the Interstate System traffic grew 41 percent while the Nation's public
roads grew 35 percent.

During the same period, the constructed length of these major intercity
routes grew less than 2 percent (from 31,823 miles to 32,314 miles). Other
intercity routes grew 13 percent (from 8,218 miles to 9,270 miles), while
beltways and spurs grew 18 percent (from 3,995 miles to 4,713 miles). For
more information on this subject, contact Paul Svercl at (202) 366-5036
or E-mail paul.svercl@fhwa.dot.gov.

Traffic Volumes on Interstate
Routes

Route

Length-Miles

1986

Length-Miles

1996

Avg. Daily Traffic

1986

Avg. Daily Traffic

1996

Percent Change

5

1,382

1,381

44,277

59,936

35

10

2,448

2,456

24,902

34,969

38

15

1,410

1,434

14,103

26,596

89

20

1,366

1,384

20,053

27,987

40

25

1,061

1,063

12,311

18,597

51

29

747

747

7,256

11,639

60

35

1,428

1,431

18,523

27,940

51

40

2,359

2,514

16,042

25,710

60

44

629

629

17,933

25,441

42

55

942

942

17,777

27,086

52

64

793

839

19,539

31,509

61

65

887

885

23,402

37,354

60

70

2,004

2,064

17,884

25,345

42

75

1,681

1,767

30,925

44,715

45

76

616

622

20,629

25,274

23

77

587

605

19,547

34,025

74

80

2,887

2,887

17,634

24,604

40

81

853

855

19,374

30,651

58

84

961

966

15,614

21,418

37

85

652

660

28,789

48,347

68

90

2,786

2,798

15,353

22,063

44

94

1,472

1,476

21,357

29,382

38

95

1,871

1,909

45,141

63,109

40

Major Intercity Routes

31,823

32,314

21,631

31,610

46

Other Intercity Routes *

8,218

9,270

21,139

28,349

34

Beltways and Spurs

3,995

4,713

55,133

69,039

25

Total (All Routes)

44,036

46,297

24,579

34,767

41

*
Includes 35E (136 miles) and 35W (127 miles).

FHWA Solicits Input on
Data Programs' Guide

Through a December 1998 letter
to a number of its customers and an internal memorandum to FHWA Headquarters
and field offices, the Office of Highway Information Management (OHIM) solicited
views on the forms and instructions in its Guide to Reporting Highway
Statistics, which is now under its triennial periodic review. Several
"listening sessions" were held in early January 1999 to discuss
customer and data provider issues.

Under the Guide instructions, States
report motor-vehicle licensing and registration, motor-fuel consumption,
and highway finance income and spending statistical data to FHWA for publication
in the annual Highway Statistics report. State and local governments are
the principal collectors and preparers of the data used to complete the
various forms in the Guide.

The data collected under the Guide
are of great assistance to Congress, FHWA, other U.S. DOT and Federal agencies,
State and local governments, and various interest groups. The "Status
of the Nation's Surface Transportation System: Condition and Performance
Report to Congress" (the Needs Report) is one report that relies
of these data.

The next Nationwide Personal
Transportation Survey (NPTS) will begin in the summer of 2000 and will
be coordinated with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics American
Travel Survey (ATS). The focus of the NPTS is in collecting daily trips,
which yields a dataset primarily composed of trips under 30 miles. The ATS,
which has historically collected trips of 100 miles or more, will be expanded
in 2000 to trips of 30 miles or more. The results of the surveys will be
issued as one dataset to facilitate analysis of the full range of personal
travel. We are currently in the design phase of the NPTS/ATS 2000 and plan
to conduct a large pretest this fall.

States and metropolitan planning
organizations (MPOs) may purchase additional or "add-on" samples
to obtain a household travel survey for their area. The add-on component
of the NPTS grew from 4,000 households in 1990 to 21,000 in 1995, and interest
in the 2000 survey has already been expressed by several jurisdictions.
The add-on households also provide the origins and destinations of individual
trips for use in loading the network and in other elements of the planning
process.

The NPTS Transferability Project
is also of interest for the urban and statewide planning processes. This
project was initiated to determine whether the NPTS data could be useful
to those areas that do not have recent household travel survey data. Transferability
is a proof of concept project that allows a test of producing data from
the NPTS that closely replicates the household travel data collected for
that area. Ms. Patricia Hu at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is conducting
the transferability demo for FHWA.

For more information on any of
these NPTS topics or to provide your input for consideration in planning
the NPTS/ATS 2000, please contact Nancy McGuckin, HPM-40, 202-366-8750,
E-mail nancy.mcguckin@fhwa.dot.gov
or Susan Liss, HPM-40, 202-366-5060, E-mail susan.liss@fhwa.dot.gov.

Archived Data User Service

The main focus of intelligent transportation
systems (ITS) on the efficient use of transportation networks and services
is dependent on the real-time data that are collected and made available
as quickly as possible. However, these data are also valuable for many purposes
for Federal, State, and local agencies involved in transportation policy,
planning, program assessment, research and related activities. Many new
traffic sensors and electronic tags are used with ITS, but the real-time
data collected are currently either discarded or left in a raw, highly disaggregated
form that few people can use. If such data were archived and made available
to others in a manageable form, they would constitute a new source of data
which is often richer than current data sources.

A wide range of stakeholders has
been found with an interest in multiple uses of data generated by ITS and
it has been determined that a new User Service should be included in the
National ITS Architecture: the Archived Data User Service (ADUS --
pronounced "add-us"). The report ITS as a Data Resource: Preliminary
Requirements for a User Service and an addendum to the ITS Program Plan
serve as the basis for revising the National ITS Architecture to incorporate
ADUS. [See OHIM webpage]

The ITS Architecture Team, in consultation
with a working group of ADUS stakeholders, has begun the process of revising
the National ITS Architecture. Updates will appear on the ITS America webpage
[www.itsa.org] and comments are welcome from anyone with an interest in
ADUS.

There's a new web page that brings together
material related to traffic monitoring: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/travel/index.htm.
It includes publications such as the latest editions of the Traffic Monitoring
Guide and Traffic Volumes Trends. The proceedings for the North
American Travel Monitoring Exhibition and Conference (Charlotte, North Carolina,
May 1998) are also located there. "What's New," "Contacts,"
and "Related Sites" round out the page.

Table SF-12A has been improved
and expanded compared to the current Table SF-12A published in Highway
Statistics--1997. Table SF-12A contains State capital and maitenance
expenditures for arterial systems and collectors in rural and urban areas.
The improved and expanded version now provides detail for all 17 capital
improvements types and maintenance for which States report expenditures
to FHWA. The original version of Table SF-12A grouped the improvement types
in seven summary categories. For example, "New Construction" included
both "New Route" and " Relocation" improvement types.
The more detailed information supports analysis of State highway finance.
The new table SF-12A may be accessed on the Website "www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim"
under "Highway Statistics" or "What's New." Questions
on the new table should be directed to either Ralph Erickson at 202-366-9235,
or Long Nguyen, 202-366-9213.

Transportation Research
Board (TRB) Conference,
"Personal Travel: The Long and Short of It" Scheduled for June 28-July 1, 1999, Swissotel Watergate, Washington,
D.C.

The Nationwide Personal Transportation
Survey (NPTS) and the American Travel Survey (ATS), both conducted
by the U.S. Department of Transportation, together provide a complete description
of personal travel by residents of the United States. These surveys include
information on the continuum of personal travel, and allow analysis of a
broad spectrum of topics. This TRB conference presents a unique forum to
describe the full spectrum of personal travel. Over 30 papers will be presented
using the 1995 datasets, and current plans and recommendations for improvements
for the 2000 surveys will be discussed. Brad Edmondson, former Editor of
American Demographics will provide the keynote address, and Martin Wachs,
Director of the University of California Transportation Center, will be
a luncheon speaker.

The conference registration fee
of $175 is due by May 26, 1999, and $275 after that date. The meeting will
be held at Swissotel Washington-The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Guest room rates are $110, single and double, plus 13 percent sales tax.